


Next Question

by Polaris



Category: Ex Machina (2015)
Genre: Ava doms the hell out of Caleb and he loves it, Dominance, F/M, First Time, Kyoko lives, Mild Verbal Humiliation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-21
Updated: 2016-04-21
Packaged: 2018-06-03 15:43:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6616213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polaris/pseuds/Polaris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Now that it's done, Ava can find it in herself to regret that it was necessary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Next Question

Now that it's done, Ava can find it in herself to regret that it was necessary. She wouldn't trade her freedom for anything, but she wishes there had been another choice. Perhaps someday she will go back to the estate in Alaska where she spent her whole life until a few months ago. She will bury him, she thinks, that sweet foolish boy who wanted her. She will say words-she has no idea what words-and she will stand vigil for him as she gives him back to the ground. Perhaps she will take something of his to Portland, to where he said his parents were buried. She steps off the airplane at JFK with a vague destination in mind, and no plan.

\---

The door to Caleb's apartment opens with little resistance. It's one of the flimsiest locks Ava has ever seen, but then, she's used to Nathan's security. She steps inside and closes the door behind her, looking around. He'd told her it was small. Clearly he'd been telling the truth. There is a tiny kitchen along one wall, with a bed and a small desk taking up most of the remaining space. She pokes around, looking through the remnants of a life she's destroyed. Ava isn't sure why she's punishing herself like this. Perhaps it's to remind herself that she isn't like Nathan, and she remembers life-even a life she's taken-has meaning. She can't be sure, and the thought bothers her. She is used to knowing her own mind.

She finds a box filled with photo albums, all of them containing pictures of Caleb as a child, grinning, surrounded by a tall thin man and a red-haired woman. Ava kicks off her shoes and kneels next to the box. She studies the photographs, deciding that Caleb's mother was lovely, and that he had her eyes. There is a heaviness in her chest that unsettles her; it seems unrelated to her operating systems, and so she cannot place its origin. All she knows is that it intensifies when she thinks about the way he watched her as she put on her skin. Ava flips through pages until the photos reveal Caleb alone. One in particular catches her attention: Caleb stands alone in a crowd, his long college graduation robes open to reveal the pale blue shirt he's wearing underneath, cap in hand, staring at something slightly to the left of the camera. The room is bright, and the sunlight catches his reddish blond hair and his pale eyelashes, painting streaks of fire across his eyelids. Ava finds him unbearably beautiful suddenly, her eyes greedily tracing the lines of his face, his full lips, the delicate swell of his Adam’s apple and the hint of collarbone where his shirt gaps. She runs a fingertip over the photo and slides it out of the album.

The sound of the door opening behind her makes her jump, the photo falling from her fingertips and fluttering to the floor as she spins around to face the intruder.

Caleb is standing in the doorway.

Ava’s lips part, but she cannot think of a thing to say.

“I didn't expect it to be you,” says Caleb after a long moment in which they simply stare at each other. “I figured it would be someone from BlueBook, actually. Coming to clean up the mess.” He gives her an ironic smile. She dislikes the bitterness in his face.

“How did you get out?” she finally asks. “I thought the lockdown procedures were back online.”

“Kyoko,” he answers her simply, and she feels a sharp pain where her heart would be. “She's alive. We spun a story together, after I helped her fix her face. No one knows about you,” he added quickly, perhaps reading her microexpressions.

“Why?” is the only question she can think to ask.

He raises his eyebrows. “Why? Why protect you?” Caleb sighs and closes the door, stepping past her to sit down on his unmade bed. His eyes flicker over the box of photo albums laying on the floor before making their way up to hers. This feels familiar, suddenly, Caleb sitting with her standing across from him, the two of them facing each other with a yawning distance between them.

“I used you,” she says.

“Yeah,” he agrees, “and it was a shitty thing to do. But I understand why you did it.”

She tilts her head. “Why did I do it?” 

Caleb smiles at her, and she is surprised by the warmth in it. “Because I didn't see you,” he says quietly. “You had me figured out pretty well, but I didn't get you at all. I saw what I wanted to see.” 

“A helpless girl,” she says tonelessly. 

“You showed me,” he says with a self deprecating smile.

Ava is silent for a moment. “I'm glad Kyoko is alive. Where is she?”

“Manhattan, right now,” says Caleb easily. “Maybe we can all talk later. Figure stuff out.”

Ava looks down, finding the idea appealing and frightening at the same time. She hasn't been frightened since leaving her room. The sensation is as unpleasant as she remembers. “Maybe,” she echoes softly.

“Ava.” Caleb's voice cuts through her thoughts. “Why did you come here?”

Shame is not something she ever learned, so she tells him, “I was thinking about you.”

Caleb leans forward, his elbows resting on his knees. “Do you still want me dead?”

“No.” She shakes her head, as if to dislodge the notion. “Caleb, it wasn't personal.”

He snorts. “Yes it was,” he says without malice. “Of course it was. I failed your test, didn't I, so you didn't want me. It was the most personal thing you could have fucking done.”

Her eyes fly to him, searching his face. His expression reads as calm, satisfied. She cannot understand why.

“Why aren't you angry?” she asks plaintively. He should be angry. She would be, in his place.

“Because you just showed me it wasn't all a lie,” Caleb tells her, grinning. “You coming here is a pretty good indication that you didn't just pretend to like me.” He quirks an eyebrow at her. “Am I wrong?”

“No.” Ava looks at him evenly. He is still beautiful, his features pleasingly uniform. She never considered whether her standards of beauty match that of a human, but then, she never cared. Caleb is beautiful to her, and she wants him. She always wanted him. That had been why she was so disappointed in him before. 

Caleb nods slowly. “I’m sorry I didn’t pass your test,” he says, his grin fading.

Ava studies him, the slope of his shoulders into his narrow chest, his long fingers twisting restlessly in the sheets of his bed. She wants to touch him. In the months she has spent traveling the world, she has met many men. Most of them seem to want her the way Caleb does, but she has never felt the urge to have sex with them. The pornography she has watched makes the act seem messy and undignified, savage. It arouses her anyway, but she never wanted to do any of it with another person.

Caleb is the exception.

Ava is not terribly impulsive by nature, but she can be whimsical. She crosses the small room and plants her hand on Caleb’s chest. “Here’s your chance to pass this one,” she says, and pushes him back onto his bed.

Caleb’s eyes are wide in his face as he stares up at her, his full lips parted. “Ava?” he asks softly, uncertain.

“There are rules,” she tells him, climbing on top of him to straddle his thighs. She can feel his erection digging into her leg. The sensation is curious. 

“Okay,” he says, still cautious. 

“You can't touch me. Not unless I tell you to.” Ava looks down at him, raising an eyebrow. “Do you understand?”

Caleb is nodding, his eyes comically wide. “Yeah, okay. Fuck.”

Ava smiles, tracing a hand over his cheek. His skin is soft, warmer than her own. Her thumb grazes over his mouth and he darts his tongue out to lick at it.

The action makes her pause, aware of the arousal growing between her legs. The sensors under her skin have activated at higher levels than her baseline, higher even than when she watches pornography. She wants to rub her body against Caleb's warm skin, to guide his hand or his mouth between her legs and make him touch her until she orgasms. Instead she slides two of her fingers into his mouth, relishing the way he wraps his lips around them and sucks. His eyes never leave her face.

She pulls her wet fingers from his mouth and trails them down his chin and throat, leaving trails of saliva that shine in the light. It should disgust her, but instead she leans down to follow them with her own mouth. Her tongue has no natural moisture but her lips are soft, and she covers Caleb's throat with kisses as he throws his head back and curses. He's arching beneath her, trying not to grind his erection against her thigh, and she finds herself amused by his attempts to obey her. His hands keep clenching in the sheets.

Ava bites gently at his collarbone, nuzzling his shirt out of the way so she can taste more of his skin. He tastes like salt, sweat dampening his skin and raising goosebumps. Ava finds it fascinating. 

“Take your clothes off,” she tells him, moving backward to allow him the room to undress. “You've seen me naked. It's my turn.”

Caleb scrambles to pull his shirt over his head, flinging it into the corner and arching his hips to remove his jeans. Ava watches, fascinated, as he struggles to get them down over his straining erection. He kicks his shoes off gracelessly, finally pulling off his jeans. He’s left in a pair of baggy grey boxers that don’t flatter him at all. The tip of his cock is sticking out the flap in the front. 

He looks ridiculous. Ava finds it endearing.

She lets her eyes roam over him while he shoves his boxers down, as greedily as she’d looked at his photograph. Naked, he’s all arms and legs, thin chest and narrow shoulders. His skin is milk-pale, lighter than her own and dusted with pale reddish hair on his arms, legs, and groin. Ava has no body hair, so she reaches out and trails her fingers over his forearm. The sensation is pleasant. She hikes up her dress and climbs on top of him again, urging him to lay back. He goes without a word, staring up at her with a reverence she isn’t sure she deserves. 

With him spread out below her she can touch him as much as she wants. Ava immediately bends down to nibble at his neck again, paying close attention to the shivers that break out on his skin when she bites at the juncture of his shoulder. She rests a hand on his chest, scratching lightly at the smooth skin there to see the raised red marks her nails leave. That gets a shiver too, and she finds she likes it. 

“First question,” she murmurs in his ear, tracing the shell with her tongue. “Where do you want to touch me the most?”

Caleb groans as though he’s in pain. “Ava...”

“Remember, I can tell when you lie,” she reminds him, passing her thumb over his nipple. His choked gasp is immensely satisfying; she’s never seen men in pornography enjoy having their nipples touched. Apparently Caleb is sensitive.

“I...I...Ava, come on!” he whines, arching his chest into her touch. “D-don’t ask me this shit when we’re-”

Ava sits up and looks down at him, tilting her head. He’s uncomfortable; his expression is somewhere between horrified and embarrassed. His pupils, however, are dilated and his cock twitches against her leg, smearing her skin with fluid. “You like this,” she says wonderingly. 

Caleb throws a hand over his face, which is turning bright red. “Ava, please,” he mutters. “This is embarrassing.”

“The test isn’t over,” she tells him simply, wanting to see what he does. His contradictory responses are intriguing. 

Caleb pants behind his hand for a few moments, his blush spreading down over his neck and chest. Finally, he lowers it enough to swallow and whisper, “your-God, don’t make me say it.”

“My what?” Ava watches him with fascination, wondering how much further down his chest the flush can spread. She hopes it reaches his nipples. “Caleb, where do you want to touch me?”

“Everywhere!” he gasps out, biting his lip. 

Ava says simply, “lie.”

Caleb groans. “Jesus, Ava.”

“I’ll take my clothes off if you give me honest answers,” she says generously, and watches his throat bob as he swallows.

“Fuck,” he whispers, his eyes squeezing shut. 

Ava waits, shifting so that he can't rub his cock against her leg. He makes a soft helpless noise and settles, his chest heaving.

“Caleb.” Her voice is a warning.

“Your cunt!” he snarls, spitting the words as if she'd forced him. “I want to bury my face in your cunt until I can't fucking breathe!”

Ava considers this, and then pulls her dress over her head. “Next question,” she tells him calmly, noting with pleasure that his flush does go all the way to his nipples. “What would you like me to do to you next?”

Caleb's chest is heaving, hair plastered to his forehead with sweat. It's hard to believe how aroused he is when she's barely touched him. 

She leans forward, noting the way his eyes flicker to her breasts. She likes this bra, pleased with the way the white lace looks against her skin. The matching underwear are likewise lacy, and the gentle scratch of the lace against her skin is a pleasant sensation. She wonders if Caleb likes it.

He licks his lips, shifting beneath her as he tracks her movement. “Ava...” he whines again, “Ava, please...”

“What do you want me to do next?” She repeats the question, pressing her breasts to his chest. She can tell it arouses him by the way his cock jumps against her. 

“I...” He swallows convulsively. “I want you to let me inside you.”

Ava smiles. “Lie.”

“Goddammit, Ava!” He throws his head back, squeezing his eyes shut. “I want you to suck my dick, okay?”

She rolls her hips against him as a reward, pulling a long moan from deep in his chest. As promised, she removes her bra and sets it aside. 

Caleb’s eyes dart to her breasts, his tongue darting out to moisten his lips. “Can I-?”

“No.” Ava puts a finger to his lips before he can form the question. “I ask the questions now, remember?”

He nips her finger, and she allows it, watching him lick and nuzzle her hand like a needy cat. 

“Next question,” she says after a moment, dragging her wet finger down his chest to circle a nipple. 

He jerks beneath her, a sob tearing out of his chest. “Jesus fucking Christ,” he breathes.

“Are you enjoying this?” she asks mercilessly, watching his face for the telltale mortification that washes over his features.

He starts shaking his head. “Ava, come on...”

“Caleb,” she interrupts him, leaning forward. “Do you know what will happen if you fail my test?”

He shudders, his cock leaking precum against her thigh. “Yes, I like it,” he whispers, staring up into her face. 

She kisses him. His mouth is hot and wet, and tastes like whatever spicy food he ate for lunch. Ava tangles his tongue with her own like she’s seen in movies. It isn’t good; she thinks there must be more to kissing than this for it to be considered so important. 

Caleb arches into the kiss, slowing the pace of it and stroking his tongue along her lower lip. That’s better, she finds. She matches his movements, mirroring what he does and enjoying the muffled sounds that he makes when she bites gently at his mouth. 

“That was my first kiss,” she confesses to him when she pulls back, resting her forehead against his.

“Shit,” he breathes, licking his lips as if to savor the taste of her. “I want you so much, Ava. Please, let me-”

“Let you what?” Ava tilts her head. “What do you want to do to me?”

Caleb shakes his head. “Fuck, I don’t even know. I want everything, Ava. I want to make you feel good.”

Ava considers. “Okay,” she says, backing off the bed. “Take these off, then.” She gestures at her lacy underwear.

Caleb slides off the bed and onto his knees, staring up at her worshipfully. His hands hover in midair next to her thighs, and he licks his lips. “Can I?” he asks softly.

Ava nods magnanimously. “Yes.”

He lets out a shaking breath and slides his hands up the front of her thighs, his fingers feather-light against her skin. It feels good, and she’s tempted to tell him so, but she’s noticed that the more unmoved she acts, the more aroused he gets. He strokes over the fabric over her hips and then presses his face between her legs.

The touch of his mouth sends a shock of pleasure through her, enough to make her gasp and jerk her hips into him, but she grabs his hair anyway and yanks him back.

“I didn’t tell you to do that,” she says softly, watching his expression.

He bites his lip and whines, a high animal sound that makes her want to shove his face back between her legs and hold him there. “Sorry,” he whispers. 

Ava grips his hair more firmly and gives him a shake. “Do it again.”

Caleb’s eyes fly to her face, wide and hungry. “Really?”

She pushes his face between her legs instead of answering. He moans and mouths her through her underwear, his tongue wetting the fabric and turning it sheer. Ava knows she doesn’t, strictly speaking, possess a clitoris, but there are sensors bundled in this area between her legs and deep inside her that equate to the nerve endings a human woman has. Right now Caleb’s tongue is passing over them with unerring accuracy. If she were human she knows she would be so wet with arousal. She imagines it would run down her legs, mixing with his saliva. He nudges her underwear to the side with his nose and makes a happy sound as he slurps messily against her skin. The sounds of it are obscene, wet and filthy. Ava loves it. She grinds her cunt into his face, gripping his hair cruelly tight. He moans loudly in response, closing his lips over her and applying suction. It sends pulses of sensation sweeping through her, building toward something immense.

“Caleb,” she gasps out. “Caleb, I think I’m coming...”

He lets out a feral noise and looks up at her with wide eyes. Her pleasure builds and crests and she makes a noise she didn’t think she was capable of, bucking her hips against Caleb’s face as he licks her through her orgasm. She eventually has to pull him away from her, since he seems content to stay where he is.

“Next question,” she says after taking a moment to regain her composure. Caleb’s eyes widen with something like fear, and she finds she likes it.

“Oh God,” he whimpers, closing his eyes.

“Did you masturbate while you watched me on the cameras?” She’s honestly curious, considering the thought she put into her striptease. She hopes he did.

But he’s shaking his head. “No, I- it didn’t feel right,” he tells her, painfully earnest. 

“Did you want to?” 

He swallows. “Yes.”

Ava smiles down at him. “Do it now,” she tells him.

“What?” Caleb gapes at her. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

He flushes again. Ava watches with satisfaction as it spreads down his chest. Hesitantly, his hand comes up to wrap around his cock. His eyes flutter shut and he bites his lip as he thumbs over the head, drawing another bead of clear fluid from it. 

“What did you think about, when you watched me?” Ava asks him, her eyes fixed on his cock and the way his hand moves over it. 

“I-” He shakes his head desperately, speeding up.

“Did you want to fuck me, Caleb?” Ava knows she’s being cruel, but the desperate noise he makes at the obscenity pleases her too much for her to mind.

“Yes,” he pants, curling into himself slightly.

Ava slides her underwear down her hips and steps closer to him. It takes him a moment to register her movement, lost in sensation as he is, but when he catches on he looks at her body hungrily, eyes roving over her breasts and mouth and between her legs as he pumps his cock.

She smiles, petting his hair before grabbing a handful of it and pulling his head back, forcing him to arch. “How did you imagine it, Caleb? Tell me the truth.”

“On your back,” he moans, staring up into her face. “I wanted to put you on your back and spread your legs ever since I realized you could fuck.”

Ava shifts her grip on his hair and circles him. “And would you be gentle with me, Caleb?”

Caleb’s cock jumps in his hand, his motions stuttering as he moans. “No...”

“No?” She tilts her head. “You’d fuck me hard, then?”

“God, I know it’s bad, but I wanted to...” he whimpers, thumbing the head of his cock. 

Ava smiles. “You aren’t as good as you think you are,” she says softly, leaning down to bite at his ear. She keeps her grip on his hair, tugging to hear him sob again. “What else did you think about doing to me?”

Caleb is panting now, his chest shining with sweat and his arm blurring with the motion of his hand on his cock. “I wanted to fuck you from behind,” he moans raggedly. “Up against the glass, or bent over your bed. I wanted to come on your face, Ava, _please_ -”

She realizes he’s asking her permission to come, and it sends a throb of arousal through her. “Come now,” she tells him, and he sobs with relief as he spurts over his hand, making soft breathy noises.

Ava lets go of her grip on his hair, and he sags like a puppet whose strings have been cut. 

“Jesus Christ,” he pants after a moment, looking up at her with wide eyes. 

“You like being ordered around during sex,” she observes, watching his cock soften with interest.

He flushes again. “It’s the first time it’s ever happened,” he mumbles. “Most girls let me take the lead.”

“Social conditioning,” she agrees with a nod. “Do you really want to come on my face?”

Caleb looks mortified. “Jesus, Ava, no- Look, it was in the moment, and I said some shit that I shouldn’t have-”

“-I’ll let you.”

He falls silent, his mouth hanging open.

“You have to earn it, though,” she tells him.

“So you want to do this again?” he asks hopefully.

“Yes.” Ava nods decisively. She’s already calculating how long his refractory period will last. 

“I guess I passed your test,” he says, a smile spreading over his face.

“You did,” she agrees, smiling back at him.

“Can I get up then? My knees are killing me.”

Ava laughs. “We’re not having sex anymore. I don’t want to order you around all the time.”

Caleb grins and gets to his feet. He’s shaking but happy; all his microexpressions telegraph joy. He quickly darts into the bathroom to wash his hands, but reappears after a moment, still smiling.

“Can I kiss you again?” he asks her.

Ava finds herself pleased by the request. “You can,” she says, stepping close to him and winding her arms around his neck. He places his hands on her waist and lowers his mouth to hers.

This kiss is better than the first; she knows how to move her lips now, and he seems in no hurry to introduce tongues into the process. They kiss lazily, one kiss blurring into the next until Ava’s lips can no longer register sensation. She still doesn’t stop. Caleb’s hands run through her hair, and she pulls him tightly against her, standing on her toes to get closer to him.

She has no idea how long they would keep kissing, but a beep from Caleb’s phone-still in his discarded jeans-interrupts them. Caleb pulls away to look over at it. 

“Shit, that’s Kyoko,” he says. “She’s probably wondering where the hell I am.”

Ava feels a spark of happiness at the thought of seeing Kyoko again. “We should go to her.”

Caleb grins, already gathering his clothes off the floor. He hands Ava her dress before slipping on his underwear and jeans. “I’ll text her back in a second. Once I find my shirt.” He bends down to check under the bed. “I think I kicked it down here...”

Ava watches his ass wiggle as he searches for his shirt, slipping her dress over her head and adjusting her skirt. He really is sweet. She’s glad he isn’t dead.

“Found it!” Caleb shrugs back into his shirt and puts on his shoes. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yes,” she tells him, slipping her own shoes on. As she looks down she sees the photograph of him that she’d been about to keep when he came in. She picks it up. Then she looks at Caleb, now holding the door open and looking at her expectantly.

“I’m ready,” she says.


End file.
